(written December 3rd)

How long it’s been! What a month since I last updated….let’s see what I can remember. :) In middle of November, we had our very last excursion to Andalucía, the region in southern Spain. We visited three cities over five days. We stopped in Córdoba for just the afternoon on the way down to see a famous mezquita (mosque). It was full of beautiful red and white striped arches, an elegant section that has been turned to a cathedral and a plaza FULL of naranjos – orange trees – on of the symbols of the city.

After Córdoba, we spent two days in Sevilla, which was a bit of a strange experience. Andalucía, and especially Sevilla, is where a lot of the stereotypically Spanish things come from and are still common – bullfighting, flamenco, etc. We passed hundreds and hundreds of cheap souvenir shops stuffed full of red and black lacy flamenco dresses, Spanish fans, castanets, toro (bull) memorabilia, etc. It was so different to see this part of the Spanish culture, these stereotypes of Spain, even though none of these things are part of the Spain I’ve come to know these past three months. In Sevilla we toured the third largest cathedral in the world, after St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and St. Paul’s in London. Needless to say, it was enormous and had an entire wall/altar space just COVERED in gold, with the most elaborate carvings and sculptures ever. Ay yi yi. I’m a bit done with seeing churches that are such storehouses of wealth, so cold and shiny and now just for touring. However, this cathedral did have a way sweet lookout over the entire city and - get this – the actual remains of Christopher Columbus!

Definite highlight of Andalucía occurred the next night, we went to see a flamenco show! I had no idea what to expect, but I was blown. away. :) We were in this little theatre-type café that boasted the “purest” flamenco spectacle in Spain. The two hour show was made up of one guitar player and two male singers (I don’t even know how to describe the singing- very loud and passionate and almost mournful), and then dancers – male and female – who danced one at a time, and then all together at the end. Each dancer did something different- one danced with castanets, another with a long embroidered shawl, and another with a wooden fan. The dance is a strange improvised mix of wrist-twisting and head-turning, all centered around this riveting rhythm created by the singers’ clapping and furious stomping/feet-tapping by the dancer. Absolutely incredible. Their dancing was so passionate and strong, every movement was fierce and graceful simultaneously….like nothing I’ve ever seen before. We were all pretty giddy afterwards and proceeded to flamenco-dance halfway back to the hotel, with Ricardo shaking his head and chuckling half a block behind us the whole time. :P

Right before heading out we stopped at the Plaza Espanola, full of gorgeously painted bridges and railings and a ceramic section of a wall devoted to each city in Spain. Then we were on to Granada! Granada was SUCH an interesting place! It’s in the very south of Spain, and is one of the places where there’s been a ton of Arab/Muslim influence. Seriously, it was like a completely different culture. It also has a huge “hipi” population. The first day we hiked up to the top of the city and in the plaza with this amazing lookout over the Alhambra, the forests, and the huge snow-covered mountains were hundreds of these “hipis” with their dreds and colorful clothes, sitting on the ground selling handmade jewelry or singing and playing guitar in a big group. Sooooo amazing. :) In Granada we took about a 5-hour tour of the Alhambra, an enormous Muslim mosque/palace. It was absolutely gorgeous! So colorful, yet lots of beautiful carvings in more neutral colors of wood and stone. Lots of nature, fountains, gardens…..incredible. We also had a good amount of time to roam the streets of Granada (with shops FULL of Indian-looking purses, wall hangings, jewelry, scarves, tea, everything) and discovered a lot of teterías (tea shops) with some pretty swell atmosphere. :) Granada was definitely my favorite city to visit after Barcelona- so full of color and contrasting cultures.

And with that, we finished our long list of weekend excursions. I’m actually traveling with my friend Kat and her family Dec 18-26 to Madrid, Sevilla, and Granada, so I won’t have to quit quite yet. :)

This past week we celebrated Thanksgiving with our group here in Segovia. Obviously, Spain doesn’t celebrate it, but Ricardo brought us to a restaurant and arranged ahead for them to make us some typical thanksgiving food. What we had was the most unique Thanksgiving meal I’ve had yet: a first course of squid fried with eggs and green peppers, turkey with a sweet red barbecue sauce, a baby baked potato and a sort of meat stuffing with cooked raisins, and a (delicious) typical Spanish dessert.  The restaurant really went all out with the turkey, and it was so kind of them! Later in the day I got to skype with nearly my entire family- mom and dad, sisters, both sets of grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins….how lucky am I?!? It was amazing to see their faces (I haven’t seen Sara since I left and Alena just once) and laugh as they all tried to cram into the camera at the same time. I was a bit homesick and definitely missed my grandma’s food, my grandpa praying before the meal, and being silly with my sisters ….but overall it wasn’t too bad at all. I was overwhelmed with how blessed I am...the amazing family I have….more thankful this year than ever before, I think. :)

Thanksgiving morning was actually really sweet, as I worked on my final project for my photography class all morning. I wandered around the city for a few hours, leisurely and trying to be as inconspicuous as possible while snapping pictures. I never would have guessed I’d like it this much, but this class has definitely been one of the best parts of the semester (tho a bit stressful and lightning-paced). I’ve had so, so much fun scouring the city for perfect moments to capture (which isn’t hard in Segovia, that’s for sure) and spending hours at a time in the dark room with my ipod, seeing how they finally turn out after 2, 3, 4 tries (sometimes many more on the bad days :P) to develop them well. I still have sooo much to learn, but I’m absolutely intrigued by this art now. :)

It snowed here! This week Spain has been completely dumped on, something relatively uncommon especially for this point in the year, and something that sends the country into a bit of a frenzy. It’s sooo beautiful, and we were like little kids again the first day it snowed this week- snowball fights, the works. :) What else…it’s been a full week or two with visits to the beloved crepería (crepe restaurant), the Oja Blanca (a sweet bar with live music late into the night- a mix of older segovian professors and young college kids playing everything from Frank Sinatra to traditional Spanish songs to “Hit the Road Jack”!), and Stephen (Emily’s boyfriend) visiting from MN! I think I’m finally adjusting to the social life in Spain a bit…The past few weekends we’ve gone out dancing or spent time with our Spanish friends until some of the wee hours of the morning and it’s been really fun, although they tell me it’s not a “true” Spanish night until I stay out till 6 or 7 in the morning and eat churros and chocolate to warm my hands in the freezing cold streets for breakfast the next morning. Hmm….may take a while to work up to that! :P

It’s so crazy…the rest of the group leaves in a mere 8 days or so. We have a few last projects and classes, our “cena de despedida”, a final dinner when all our host families and professors come, and the morning of Friday the 12th most of the group takes off for Minnesota, although some are staying to travel a bit more. Sooo weird, this semester has flown like no other! I’m crazy thankful for the chance to spend 6 more short weeks here, as much as I’m crazy excited to see my friends and family after those same 6 long weeks. A ver lo que pase en la época que viene....We’ll see what happens in this next “epoch”! (haha they use that word in spanish a bit more than english...) Love you all tons and tons. :)

p.s. Andalucía pictures here!:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2052923&l=ebafd&id=63804298
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2052924&l=7cfd5&id=63804298